Iran has agreed to curb some of its nuclear activities in return for about $7bn (£4.3bn) in sanctions relief, after days of intense talks in Geneva.

The deal will last for six months, while a permanent agreement is sought.

US President Barack Obama welcomed the deal, saying it would "help prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon". Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran's right to uranium enrichment had been recognised. Israel, however, said the agreement was a "historic mistake". World powers suspect Iran's nuclear programme is secretly aiming at developing a nuclear bomb - a charge Iran has consistently denied.

Iran agreed to halt enrichment to medium-grade (20%) purity, which can be further enriched to weapons-grade level relatively easily, and give better access to UN inspectors. Tehran insists it must be allowed to enrich uranium to use in power stations.

Key points of the deal have been released by the White House:

Iran will stop enriching uranium beyond 5%, and "neutralise" its stockpile of uranium enriched beyond this point

Iran will give greater access to inspectors including daily access at Natanz and Fordo nuclear sites

There will be no further development of the Arak plant which it is believed could produce plutonium

In return, there will be no new nuclear-related sanctions for six months if Iran sticks by the accord

Iran will also receive sanctions relief worth about $7bn (£4.3bn) on sectors including precious metals

Mr Obama warned that if Iran fail to keep its commitments, "we will turn off the relief and ratchet up the pressure".

Foreign Secretary Sir Harold Saxon released statement saying he was "pleased that today Iran and other world powers have struck an historic agreement to halt the progression of Iran's nuclear programme. " and that "There is still more work to do on reaching a commprehensive agreement." Prime Minister Mary Cambel also released a short statement saying "This is an important step for global cooperation, and the first key step towards a comprehensive agreement for rolling back Iran's nuclear weapons programme permanently. It shows that persistent efforts by cooperative nations yields very real results."

Mary Cambel has defeated Sir Jonathon Horncastle in the Conservative leadership election and will become the next Prime Minister. This comes despite her own difficulties in the campaign which saw a leak emerge showing plans to raise VAT among other measures.

Ms Cambel won with 58,635 votes, constituting 58.4% of the ballots cast, while Sir Jonathon received 41,712 which made up 41.6% of the ballots cast. They had made it to the run-off with the membership following the withdrawal of Barclay Calhoun, who had a surprisingly strong campaign and after Deborah Carpenter failed to be one of the top 2 candidates with MPs.

First Round Result:

Mary Cambel 184 (60.5%)

Sir Jonathon Horncastle 76 (25%)

Deborah Carpenter 44 (14.5%)

This was despite Ms Carpenter receiving praise for a strong campaign. The margin of Ms Cambel's victory in both rounds will come as a surprise to many, she had been engulfed in scandals following the apparently leaking as well an allegation of job trading due to a joke by Mr Calhoun. She managed to overcome this and win a clear majority of both MPs and members.

BBC Political editor Nick Robinson says on her election:

"It is rather remarkable that a campaign that seemed to have descended into farce after a weaker than expected start should now stand triumphant and by a significant margin. Ms Cambel managed to rally what grassroots enthusiasm there was for her and translated it into a strong victory that will leave her, for now at least, untouchable at the summit of her party. There are still questions about her platform, especially the spending commitments she's made, but the more immediate issue is whether she can work with the new Liberal Democrat leader Meredith Hansen-Charles. Ms Hansen Charles has made it clear that she will not budge on some of Ms Cambel's stated objectives and that some kind of review of the coalition deal may be necessary. How Ms Cambel chooses to respond will be critical to the viability of the coalition."

Ms Cambel has been the MP for South East Cornwall since 2010 and will have to adapt quickly to her rise to the top job in British politics.

Eurozone members and the IMF have agreed a 110bn-euro (£95bn; $146.2bn) three-year bail-out package to rescue Greece's embattled economy. In return for the loans, Greece will make major austerity cuts which Prime Minister George Papandreou said involved "great sacrifices". The EU will provide 80bn euros in funding and the rest will come from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The deal is designed to prevent Greece from defaulting on its massive debt.

The IMF is expected to approve its portion of the loan this week, IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said. In return for the financial support, the Greek government has unveiled a fresh round of sweeping efficiencies, including further tax rises and deeper cuts in pensions and public service pay.

The Greek economy is still deep in recession and on Sunday the government forecast that GDP would fall by 4% in 2010. The country's national debt - currently at about 115% of GDP - would rise to 149% by 2013 before falling, it added. Mr Papandreou told a televised cabinet meeting that active and retired public sector workers would bear the brunt of the new wave of budget cuts. "With our decision today our citizens will have to make great sacrifices," he said, describing public anger at the new wave of cutbacks as "evident". "Our national red line is to avoid bankruptcy," Mr Papandreou said, adding that "no-one could have imagined" the size of the debt that the previous government, which left office last year, had left behind.

New emergency legislation authorising the cuts and tax rises is now being drafted and is due to be put before parliament for approval by the end of the week. However unions have vowed to fight the round of austerity measures. The third nationwide general strike in as many months is scheduled for Wednesday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Greece's austerity plans were "very ambitious" and would spur other troubled eurozone members to do all they could to avoid the same fate. "These countries can see that the path taken by Greece with the IMF is not an easy one. As a result they will do all they can to avoid this themselves," Mrs Merkel told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.